Malays
Malays '(Malay: Melayu, Malay Jawi: ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group that lives in maritime S outheast Asia. They live in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. Malays are unified by the Malay language, or Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia or any other form of Malay. Malays are religiously united by the Islamic religion. Etymology and Origin Ethnic Malays have numerable places of origin. Like many Southeast Asian peoples, China is a place where Malays are thought to have originated, from the Yunnan Province. The Yunnan Province is found to be the origin of many Southeast Asian peoples. Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese are all discovered to have originated from Yunnan, China. Another is a kingdom due to Chinese legend. Malays are called “Melayu” in the Malay language. According to legend, there was a Chinese kingdom called Mo Lo Yu. Malays are theorized to have origins from China and Taiwan. In Taiwan, the origin continued south where they reached the Philippines and then further down south to Borneo and Sulawesi. Since Malays are Austronesian speakers, they also have origins from the African island of Madagascar where a lot of Austronesians are also thought to have originated from. Malays share a rich and glorious history with the Javanese. The Malays were once Animist, Hindu and Buddhist empires that ruled territories stretching from Indonesia to islands up north like the Philippines. The Malays formed the Sirvijaya Empire in Indonesia. This rivalled with the Javanese Majahipit Empire. Malays and Javanese were converted to Islam once Arab and Chinese Muslims arrived at the islands and took over the Malay and Javanese thrones. By Country Malays make up the majority populations of Malaysia and Brunei, and minority populations in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. In Malaysia, 60-70% of the country’s population are ethnic Malays. Since Brunei, is a very small and nearly-landlocked country surrounded by Malaysia; almost 90% of Brunei’s population are ethnic Malays. In Singapore, Malays make up 13% of the population. In Thailand, most of the ethnic Malays live in the southern provinces near Malaysia’s northern border. The Malays in Thailand make up the Muslim majority in Thailand. In Indonesia, ethnic Malays make a very large but minority population. About 30-40% of Indonesia’s population are ethnic Malays. They mostly live in coastal Borneo, Sulawesi and Sumatra’s eastern coasts with small populations in Java. Most of Indonesia’s population are Javanese with lots of indigenous populations. Malaysians from the provinces of Sabah and Sarawak do not consider themselves Malay. Malay Language Malays are unified by their native usage of the Malay language. Malay belongs to t he Austronesian family of languages and is a world major language, the Malaccan section. The Malay language is the national languages of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia (as Indonesian), an official language in Singapore and East Timor (as Indonesian) and a minority language in Thailand. Standard Malay is called Bahasa Melayu which literally means “Malay language” in Malaysia. In Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia or simply ''Indonesian is the national form of Malay. Indonesian has differences from standard Malay. In Thailand, the Malays do speak standard Bahasa Melayu. They also speak their own dialect, called Yawi, or Patanni Malay. This is a different branch of Malay, which is not Malaccan Malay. Bahasa Melayu is Brunei’s national language. But Bruneians speak their own branch of Malay. East Timor is a tiny island country located on the island of Timor, which shares borders with Indonesia in the west. East Timor is a former territory of Portugal and later Indonesia. The Indonesian language is a public working language along with English. '''Bahasa Melayu/Bahasa Malaysia The standard form of Malay is called Bahasa Melayu. This literally means "Malay language". Bahasa Melayu is spoken as the national languages of Malaysia and Brunei. It is spoken as one of Singapore's official languages sharing the spot with Mandarin and Tamil. Bahasa Melayu is also spoken by the minority ethnic Malays living in southern Thailand along with Yawi. Making Bahasa Melayu a minority language in Thailand with no official status. Sometimes the Malay spoken in Malaysia is called Bahasa Malaysia to a certain extent. Bahasa Malaysia ''literally means "Malaysian language". Which is a rather vague term for the Malay spoken in Malaysia. People from the Malaysian provinces of Sabah and Sarawak speak their own dialects as well. Many times they do not consider themselves ethnic Malays. Bahasa Melayu is written with the Latin scripts. But there is also an Arabic script for Malay, called Jawi. 'Bahasa Indonesia' Indonesia's national standard register of Malay is Bahasa Indonesia. This literally means "Indonesian language" in Malay and Indonesian. The Indonesian language is virtually the same as standard Malay. But it has a lot of differences in its sentance structuring than the standard Bahasa Melayu. Indonesian also has a lot of Dutch cognates due to Indonesia's former existance as Dutch territory and few islands being Portuguese territories. The Indonesian language is also an official "working" language in East Timor, a former Portuguese and later Indonesian territory. Many Indonesians often see it as same language and call it Malay or Bahasa Melayu. Others differenciate it with standard Malay and label Bahasa Melayu as being more associated with the variant spoken in Malaysia and Singapore. The term “Indonesian Malay” is a rather upsetting term for Indonesians. Standard Malay is spoken in Indonesia by the ethnic Malays mostly. Almost nobody speaks Indonesian as a native toungue. Indonesian is mostly spoken as a second or third language since Indonesia is home to Southeast Asia’s indigenous Austronesian people who speak their own dialects. Bahasa Indonesia is simply the unifying lingua franca of Indonesia. Even the ethnic Malays in Indonesia speak Bahasa Melayu or any of their own branches and forms of Malay as a native language before learning Indonesian. Standard Malay and other forms of Malay are also spoken by the non-Malays in Indonesia like the Balinese and Sundanese people. But Indonesian is nearing a "100%" spoken rate in Indonesia regardless of being a native or a second language. 'Melayu Brunei' Bruneiens speak their own branch of Malay. Although Bahasa Melayu is Brunei's national language. But there does exist, Bruneian Malay which is not readily intelligible with Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia. 'Other Forms and Related Languages' A lot of people from eastern Indonesia, Java and Borneo (both Malaysian/Indonesian sections) speak their own dialects and creoles of Malay. Such branches are Java Malay, Baba Malay, Betawi Malay and Macassar Malay. Malay, has a lot of related languages due to historical ins eractions and being in the Austronesian family of languages.''Yawi ''is a language spoken by the southern Thai people. This is another form of Malay. But Yawi too, is not easily intelligible with standard Malay. The Javanese language is related to Malay but not intelligible with Malay. Most of Indonesia's population is Javanese. The Javanese and Malays have had many historical ancient interactions which causes some big similiarities between Javanese and Malay. Religion & Architecture Most ethnic Malays follow the Islamic religion. About 99.9% of Malays follow Sunni Islam. Countries like Malaysia and Brunei are ran under Islamic theocratic governments. By Malaysian law, an ethnic Malay is one who natively speaks Malay (in any form) and professes the Islamic faith. The other 1% of Malays are those who adhere to the Christian or Buddhist faith. The Malaysian government and anthropologists have different definitions of an ethnic Malay. But it does turn out that nearly all of Malays are Muslims. Many anthropologists have accepted that being Muslim is vital to being an ethnic Malay. Brunei is lead by a ''sultan, ''a Muslim leader. German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach refers to Malays as an entire race encompassing all of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia's government also refers to Malays as the entire race rather than the ethnicity. Malay names are of Arabic influence and use the Arabic naming style. A lot of Malays themselves have Arabic names. Ancient Malays had rather Chinese and Indian influenced names since Islam had not existed in maritime Southeast Asia at the time. The name ''Rajah ''is as popular with Malays (and other related groups) as they are with Indians. Modern Malay architecture highly reflects Arabic architecture since most Malays are Muslims. Most Malays would dedicate towards building mosques. But traditional Malay architecture is made of wood and is called "kampongs" which literally means "village" in Malay and Indonesian. Kampongs are built in a special way to resist tidal waves and flooding. Cuisine Malay cuisine consists of a lot of grilled, fried and steamed ingredients. These ingredients are usually marinaded in a sweet sauce. Meats such as chicken, beef and seafoods are found predominant in Malay cuisine. One particular type of Malay dish/snack is ''satay which is the Malay style kabobs. Satay is literally the Malay and Indonesian word for sate. ''Malay cuisine is regulated by Islamic laws. M alays do not eat anything that is filthy or processed unless it is the only available food for a heavily sick or dying person. Coconut milk, is another big staple ingredient in Malay cuisine. Rice is served with every Malay meal. Malays use the right hands when eating; utensils are barely used unless when eating soup. Pork and alcohol are always absent from any Malay meal. Although Malays who profess to be Christians exempt themselves from this rule. Chinese, Indian and Arabic influences have made big impacts on Malay culinary traditions with religious regulations. Nesi lemak is a popular Malay dish. The cuisine also has diverse influences depending on their regional placements. Such as the Malay dishes from Indonesia which contain a lot of Javanese and Balinese influences. Malay as a Race Malays are labeled as an entire race by German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach. The Malay Race and ethnic Malays are two different things. The ethnic Malays, are an actual ethnic group from the Malay Archipelago. Malay as a “race”, is a concept not only referring to the ethnic group from the Malay Archipelago, but throughout all of maritime Southeast Asia, Oceania and the African island of Madagascar. This would mean that East Timorese, Javanese, Balinese, Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, Madagascar Africans, Maoris and all other maritime Southeast Asian and Oceanic ethnic groups are all Malays by race and not ethnicity. Ethnic Malays too, belong to the bigger Malay Race. The Malay Race is simply a more generalized term for the Austronesian people. People belonging to the Malay Race live in the region of Austronesia which stretches all the way from the African island of Madagascar into Hawaii’s easternmost tip. Consequently for centuries the term "Malay" and even "Malaysia" has been used to refer to the all of the peoples of maritime Southeast Asia for a long time. During the Age of Exploration up to the 21st century, all of Indonesians, Malaysians and Bruneiens were all called Malays. Regardless of their native language or indegenous ethnicity. Malays were all seen as a "one race" in Southeast Asia. Even the Malaysian-Indians and Malaysian-Chinese were all considered Malays. Thus the entire archipelago was called ''Malaysia. This name traces to either combining "Malay Asia" or "Malay islands".